Lending a significant push to Thailand’s ambition to become a “smart nation,” the Information and Communication Technology Ministry is to be revamped in September as the Digital Economy and Society Ministry.However, realigning the ministry and its direction in pursuit of a fully “digital economy” will be the easy part. The greater challenge will be in implementing reforms in an entrenched and undeservedly proud bureaucracy that, as matters stand, might undermine any progress made towards that va

As Speaker Chung Sye-kyun noted in his speech opening the 20th National Assembly, the new parliament faces daunting challenges in the coming four years.First and foremost is restoration of public confidence in the parliament, which dropped to its lowest level during the 19th Assembly. The new parliament should neither repeat the fierce partisan strife that often paralyzed legislative business nor tolerate corruption and abuse of power by its members. Chung added one more important task to those

The emissions cheating scandal surrounding the German automaker Volkswagen shows that a combination of dishonest, irresponsible business and incapable, negligent regulators can cause immense damage to innocent consumers. Korean prosecutors questioned a senior executive of the Korean unit of the carmaker Monday, about five months after the Environment Ministry asked them to investigate the case. Prosecutors suspect that the carmaker forged at least 48 fuel efficiency test records between June 201

Three years ago, the United States and the European Union launched negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, promising to complete them on “one tank of gas.” But now the talks are running on fumes, with sniping on both sides and the political window for an agreement closing fast.The obstacles that the TTIP negotiations have run up against are not exclusive to that agreement. They reflect a broader trend -- one that demands a fundamental rethink of the prevailing approac

Can the United Kingdom ever reconcile itself to being part of Europe? If recent British newspaper headlines about the June 23 referendum on continued European Union membership are any guide, the answer appears to be a decisive “no.”Proponents of leaving the EU have campaigned on fear of runaway immigration and a cascade of purported dangers -- whether delivered by boat or bomb -- to the British way of life. Their opponents, who want the U.K. to remain part of Europe, highlight another fear: the

In the last week of May, at least 1,050 migrants and asylum seekers died in the Mediterranean Sea, victims of the international community’s unwillingness to address the needs of the world’s most vulnerable people. More than 2,800 migrants have died at sea so far this year -- up nearly 40 percent from the same period in 2015. Almost all of those deaths could have been prevented. With every life that is extinguished, we are losing a bit of our humanity.Clearly, the international response to the re

With Venezuela spinning into chaos and collapse, the Obama administration has pondered how to nudge the imploding nation toward political change -- without making Uncle Sam a target. The administration appears to have found the right formula this week. Secretary of State John Kerry announced Tuesday at a meeting of the Organization of American States that the U.S. would support an OAS plan for a “fair and timely” recall referendum that could replace the failing government of Venezuelan President

As central banks in advanced economies -- including the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the Swiss National Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve -- hold their policy meetings this week, they will all confront tricky questions about the management of national liquidity and cross-border influences.The most fascinating discussion, however, will take place at the Bank of Japan, which has an additional challenge: It has moved closest to the line that separates effective policy measures from ineffecti

U.S. President Barack Obama has called the shooting in Orlando an act of terror and an act of hate. He also said the massacre at a nightclub in the Florida city is a further reminder of how easy it is for Americans to acquire deadly weapons.Obama said, “We have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be.”Five months ahead of the U.S. presidential election, the issue of gun control appears to have come to the fore as one of the biggest issues in the campaign.Earlier this year, the U.S.

Britons will go to the polls on June 23 to decide whether the U.K. should stay in or leave the European Union. Uncertainty over the global economy is mounting over the upcoming “Brexit referendum.”The percentage of the proponents of the departure is estimated to hover around 40 percent in the U.K., while the ratio of opponents slightly exceeds it.If Brexit becomes reality, South Korea is certain to face aggravated difficulties in its export performance that has already taken a big hit. This woul

When I was a boy and lost just about every sporting event I tried, my father told me, “What counts isn’t whether you win or lose but how you play the game.”Most parents told their kids this. It was part of the American creed. But I doubt Fred Trump passed on the same advice to little Donald, who seems to have learned the exact opposite: It’s not how you play the game but whether you win or lose.If there’s one idea that summarizes Donald Trump -- his character, temperament, career, business strat

Even by Donald Trump’s standards, his comments about the Orlando shooting have been reckless and self-serving. They are also dangerous for the country.Trump‘s response to Sunday morning’s terrorist attack by Omar Mateen was initially an opportunistic tweet; then a boasting statement on his website: “I said this was going to happen”; followed by a renewed call to temporarily ban Muslim immigration; and capped by a sinister insinuation Monday morning that President Obama should resign after the sh

In the 1950s, a group of young British novelists and playwrights who were disillusioned with traditional British society depicted the frustrations of lower class people in their works. It was a time when Europe suffered a postwar economic recession, high unemployment, and extreme economic polarization. These defiant, subversive writers, who were marked by “impatience with the status quo, and refusal to be coopted by a bankrupt society,” demanded radical social change and wrote protest novels and

Unloved and underappreciated, America’s nuclear reactors supply almost two-thirds of the country’s low-carbon energy -- reliably and without harm to human health or the earth’s atmosphere. Nuclear is the biggest, sturdiest force against climate change there is.It is also threatened by market forces and short-sighted public policy. If energy costs accurately reflected the price of carbon, nuclear would be competitive. They don’t, and it isn’t, but there are other ways governments can make the ene

It has been some time now that Chinese fishing vessels have intruded on Korea’s exclusive economic zone. But the increasing intensity of illegal fishing has now reached at a tipping point and threatens the livelihood of small fishing towns along the west coast.Illegal fishing does not simply entail a maritime game of cat-and-mouse. Video footage shows fierce physical confrontations between maritime policemen and Chinese fishermen at the maritime border.As for the Chinese fishing boats, the Korea

If past is prelude, then the massacre in Orlando this weekend will benefit Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency. As the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has boasted, he gained significant support in December when a husband-and-wife jihadist duo shot up a government building in San Bernardino, California.Now Trump is crowing. His tweets and interviews since the shooting are a series of told-ya-so’s. He is quite pleased with himself for observing that President Barack Obama doesn’

The ruling Saenuri Party launched a reform committee on June 2, but the panel, which also acts as the party’s interim leadership until a new leader is elected, has not yet proposed any major reform agenda.The committee is led by Kim Hee-ok, a former head of the Government Public Ethics Committee. When Kim was tapped for the party’s interim leadership, many wondered how the former Supreme Court justice with no political experience would reform the conservative party, which is riddled with faction

Lotte Group, Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, is facing an investigation into allegations that its chairman and other top executives embezzled corporate money to create slush funds.Some 200 investigators raided Friday the group’s headquarters and six major affiliates to seize hard disk drives and accounting books. They also searched the homes and offices of the group chairman, Shin Dong-bin, and other key officials.Prosecutors are focusing on asset deals among Lotte subsidiaries, suspecting t

China‘s Xi Jinping recently declared that he wants China to rank as one of the world’s most innovative countries by 2020 and to top the list by mid-century. Going by past practice, this probably means a lot more money being poured into dodgy start-ups and ill-conceived high-tech schemes. There’s a better model to be found, however, one that’s surprisingly close to home: the southern boomtown of Shenzhen.　The city‘s Nanshan district, home to a huge High-Tech Industrial Park, is now China’s riches

In late April, a 17-year-old girl named Kriti Tripathi leaped to her death in Kota, India, shortly after passing the country’s examination for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology. A week later, another Kota student, Preeti Singh, hanged herself, succumbing to her injuries after a few days. Singh’s was the ninth suicide by a student in Kota this year alone, and the 56th in the last five. All attended Kota’s “coaching institutes,” whose sole purpose is to prepare high scho